By James Nelson
National Post
July 28, 2010
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/trial+ordered+polygamist+leader+Jeffs/3330101/story.html
| Warren Jeffs smiles at defence attorney Richard Wright. The Utah Supreme Court tossed out a 2007 sexual abuse conviction of the polygamist leader. |
The Utah Supreme Court yesterday tossed out the 2007 sexual abuse conviction of polygamist leader Warren Jeffs and ordered a new trial for forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry her first cousin.
The self-proclaimed prophet of a breakaway Mormon sect was sentenced in November 2007 to 10 years to life in prison for being an accomplice to rape.
But the Utah high court ruled the trial judge had erred in instructing the jury.
Jeffs, revered as infallible by his followers but reviled as power-crazed and delusional by others, will remain in prison for now, though his lawyers are expected to seek his release.
Mark Shurtleff, the Utah Attorney General, said he was very disappointed with the court decision.
"One of our biggest concerns obviously is how do we protect young girls, particularly within closed societies, polygamist sects, from being forced by their leaders to marry older men and have sex with them," he said.
Jeffs is considered the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a polygamist sect that has about 10,000 followers in Utah, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, South Dakota and British Columbia.
Yesterday's ruling sparked outrage among opponents.
"It makes me sick to my stomach that the system does this to victims," said Flora Jessop, a former FLDS member and advocate for children still in the sect.
"The victim has to go through [another trial] and be victimized by the courts, by the system that's supposed to be protecting her."
Jeffs spent 15 months on the run and was on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 10 Most Wanted list of fugitives. He was arrested August 2006 during a routine traffic stop outside Las Vegas.
He was convicted on two counts of first-degree felony rape as an accomplice, stemming from his alleged performance of a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.
Utah's high court ruled the judge in the case, James Shumate, had erred in failing to tell jurors they could not render a guilty verdict unless they determined Jeffs knew unwanted sex would occur.
The man was returned to prison last month from Arizona after similar charges against him there were dropped.
He was indicted by a Texas grand jury in July 2008 after a raid on an FLDS ranch near Eldorado. Jeffs was accused of child sexual assault involving two girls aged 12 and 13, whom he allegedly took as wives.
Authorities removed more than 400 children from the FLDS compound three months before Jeffs and five others were indicted, sparking a child custody battle.
The children have been returned to the custody of relatives, though they are barred from having further contact with men who practice polygamy, which is illegal in the United States.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.